I'm Trying to decide what Mellanox card to get for a home lab.
MCX354A-FCBT
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_adapter_cards/ConnectX3_VPI_Card.pdf
or
MCX314A
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_adapter_cards/ConnectX3_EN_Card.pdf
One is a VPI card that supports Infiniband and the other isn't.
As both cards are the same price, I am at a loss for which is better
and what are the tradeoffs if I go for one over the other.
Beyond typical network traffic, I will be experimenting with RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) and will likely not configure it infiband mode but may down the road w/ another Connectx-3 card purchase. Are there extra software/driver headaches I will have to deal w/ regarding the VPI cards? Anything I should be aware of w.r.t to VPI cards vs. standard ethernet? Any reason to pick one over the other?
I will be using these under Ubuntu linux (16.04+).
Also, I will be using a QSFP+ (40GbE -> 4x10GbE SFP) cable to connect one of the ports to two computers running Connectx-2 10GbE standard cards.
Apologies for being a complete noob
Also, will I run into any issues with this cheap sucker :
* NEW * Volex 2M Passive 40Gb QSFP+ to 4x SFP+ Breakout Cable - VAHS-30-0428-2M | eBay
MCX354A-FCBT
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_adapter_cards/ConnectX3_VPI_Card.pdf
or
MCX314A
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_adapter_cards/ConnectX3_EN_Card.pdf
One is a VPI card that supports Infiniband and the other isn't.
As both cards are the same price, I am at a loss for which is better
and what are the tradeoffs if I go for one over the other.
Beyond typical network traffic, I will be experimenting with RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) and will likely not configure it infiband mode but may down the road w/ another Connectx-3 card purchase. Are there extra software/driver headaches I will have to deal w/ regarding the VPI cards? Anything I should be aware of w.r.t to VPI cards vs. standard ethernet? Any reason to pick one over the other?
I will be using these under Ubuntu linux (16.04+).
Also, I will be using a QSFP+ (40GbE -> 4x10GbE SFP) cable to connect one of the ports to two computers running Connectx-2 10GbE standard cards.
Apologies for being a complete noob
Also, will I run into any issues with this cheap sucker :
* NEW * Volex 2M Passive 40Gb QSFP+ to 4x SFP+ Breakout Cable - VAHS-30-0428-2M | eBay